- Between April 2020 and June 2021, Amazon.com Inc AMZN suffered “critical fire or arc flash events” in at least six of its 47 North American sites with solar installations, affecting 12.7% of such facilities, CNBC reports citing unpublished documents.
- “The rate of dangerous incidents is unacceptable and above industry averages,” an Amazon employee wrote in one of the internal reports.
- By June 2021, Amazon took off every U.S. operation with solar. Amazon had to design, install and maintain properly before “re-energizing” any of them.
- Amazon blamed third-party partners and vendors for the most significant problems uncovered by the auditor, Clean Energy Associates (CEA), and other teams working on facilities and sustainability initiatives.
- In 2021, CEA informed Amazon of one critical and 259 significant findings across Amazon’s rooftop solar portfolio, including mismatched module-to-module connectors, improper installation of connectors, poor wire management, and evidence of water intrusion in the inverters.
- Amazon devised a two-part plan to help prevent future breakdowns in the rooftop solar program.
- In late 2021, the divisions requested $3.6 million in funding to reinspect sites with significant findings.
- Internal teams also began to urge Amazon leadership to rely more on salaried employees and less on outside vendors.
- Job openings suggest Amazon is still seeking to hire people internally for solar operations.
- Amazon’s rooftop solar powered 115 of its fulfillment centers across the globe by the end of 2021.
- Amazon would lose $940,000 million per month, or $20,000 for each of the 47 decommissioned North American sites, as long as the solar remained offline. There could be additional costs for Amazon, depending on the contracts.
- Price Action: AMZN shares traded lower by 0.24% at $127.51 in the premarket on the last check Friday.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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